Buttigieg’s Big Gamble

Charlotte Alter: “There are two main types of presidential candidates: those who run on policy and those who run on personality. Buttigieg says he’s a ‘policy guy,’ but he’s definitely a personality guy. His campaign is more about who he is (young, gay, Midwestern, technocratic) and what he represents (social progress, generational change, an olive branch to ‘flyover country’) than what he’ll do if he’s President…. In a primary divided between candidates who want to fight Trump and candidates who talk about uniting the country, Buttigieg is in the latter camp. That puts him out of step with the party’s activist base, who clearly want a fighter.”

“In the end, Buttigieg’s biggest gamble is his bet that voters are sick of a divided America and hungry for reconciliation. He believes independents and moderate conservatives could get behind a happily married Christian veteran. And he may be right.”